Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Ainkurunuru

Select a cover image

Searching for images...

No images found. Try again later.

Saving cover image...

Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Ainkurunuru

None

Translator: Martha Ann Selby
4.05/5 · 20 ratings

Dating from the early decades of the third century C.E., the Ainkurunuru is believed to be the world's earliest anthology of classical Tamil love poetry. Commissioned by a Cera-dynasty king and composed by five masterful poets, the anthology illustrates the five landscapes of reciprocal love: jealous quarreling, anxious waiting and lamentation, clandestine love before marriage, elopement and love…

Reviews

user_13233

...

user_13232

★ 3/5
I enjoy reading early literature from non English traditions and to be able to read this south asian translation was great. I enjoyed the imagery used although I felt the recurring themes of infidelity, waiting for proposal, and traditional marriage I did not connect with. I do love the timelessness of poetry.

user_13231

★ 5/5
This is a fantastic introduction to the ancient poetry of South India. The translations are beautifully wrought by Martha Ann Selby.

user_13230

★ 4/5
A fascinating work. Though the poems are concerned with the 'interior landscape' of individuals - love, sex, the home, the family, separation, longing, ecstasy, frustration, contentment - they also throw light on the geography of the Tamil world 2 millennia back. Centered around the heterosexual couple, a key character in these poems is the "thozhi", or the female friend of the heroine, who not only acts as messenger between the couple in times of distress, but also functions as a sort of a marriage and relationship counselor. (The vulgar modern day equivalent of the thozhi of course is the "nanben da", the duffer-friend of the hero of modern Tamil cinema who takes on the role of the thozhi, with crude comedy and often blatant misogyny.) Selby has done a brilliant translation of the Ainkurunuru. Tamils should be eternally grateful to these 'westerners' who have taken our classics to the world, and have also opened windows to the aesthetics of the ancient Tamil world to Tamils who have lost touch with their language (I partially include myself in this list) but are keen to learn about their own culture. Anyone interested in Tamil history, anyone interested in poetry, and anyone interested in love must own a copy of this work.
Genres
Shelves
book Poetry Martha Ann Selby

More like this


Thiruthi Ezhuthiya Theerpugal

Author: Vairamuthu

Puthukavithaiyin aatral...

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

The Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom

Translator: George L. Hart III Translator: Hank Heifetz

Two prominent translators present the first complete English-language edition of one of India's greatest works of classical the Purananuru. This a…

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

Indha Pookkal Virpanaikku Alla

Author: Vairamuthu

இருபதாம் நூற்றாண்டின் இறுதியிலும் இருபத்தோராம் நூற்றாண்டின் தொடக்கத்திலும் தான் வாழ்ந்த - வாழும் காலத்தின் சமூகப் பதிவுகளாக விசாலப் பார்வையோடும் மனித நேயத்தோடும் ஒலிக்கும் ஒ…

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

Ithanaal Sagalamaanavargalum

Author: Vairamuthu

N/A

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

The Cilappatikaram: The Tale of an Anklet

‘Men and women of Maturai of the four temples! I curse this city. Its king erred in killing the man I loved’ One of the world's masterpiece…

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

Tamil: A Biography

Spoken by eighty million people in South Asia and a diaspora that stretches across the globe, Tamil is one of the great world languages, and one o…

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

பூனை எழுதிய அறை

மொத்தத் தடாகத்துக்கும் ஒற்றைத் தாமரை. பார்த்துப் பார்த்து மலர்ந்துகொண்டிருந்தேன். அவள் வந்து பூ விரும்பினாள். தவிர்க்க முடியவில்லை கொய்து கொடுத்தேன். இரு கை நிறைத்த தாமரையை ஏ…

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

குழந்தைகள் நிறைந்த வீடு [Kuzhanthaigal Nirantha Veedu]

காவியச் சூரியோதயங்களும், அண்ட கோள நட்சத்திரப் போர்களும், துரும்பின் மீதும், அரும்பின் மீதும் சுமத்தப்படும் குறியீட்டுத் தூண்களும், கருங்கல் சிற்பத்தின் மீது பூசப்பட்ட சுண்ணாம்பு…

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

ஆத்மாநாம் படைப்புகள்

பிரம்மராஜன் தொகுத்த இத்தொகுப்பில் ஆத்மாநாம் கவிதைகள், கட்டுரைகள் அடங்கியுள்ளன. நண்பரது பரிந்துரைத்து வாசித்தேன். மிகப்பிடித்தது. எனவே புத்தகக் கண்காட்சியின் முதல் கொள்முதலே …

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

Villodu Vaa Nilave

Author: Vairamuthu

N/A

4.05/5 · 20 ratings

The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology

In translating these poems from the ancient Dravidian into English, the celebrated poet and translator A. K. Ramanujan (who died in 1993) has rend…

4.05/5 · 20 ratings